North American stocks fell shortly after the start of trading on Wednesday, despite an upbeat report on U.S. jobless claims.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 60 points or 0.5 per cent, to 11,287. The broader S&P 500 fell 6 points or 0.5 per cent, to 1207. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 100 points or 0.8 per cent, to 12,817.
The declines appeared to be quite broad, affecting commodity producers, financials and defensives alike. Among Canadian stocks, Manulife Financial Corp. fell 1.2 per cent, Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1 per cent and Suncor Energy Inc. fell 1.6 per cent.
Even gold stocks took a step back, with Barrick Gold Corp. down 0.6 per cent.
Among U.S. stocks, Bank of America Corp. eked out a 0.2 per cent gain. But Pfizer Inc. fell 1.8 per cent and Wal-Mart Stores fell 1.3 per cent. As well, Boeing Co. fell 2.9 per cent after its upcoming 787 Dreamliner aircraft had to make an emergency landing during a test flight.